Performance Dogs And Dog Parks

[J...]

get to know who's dog is good and who's are badly trained/badly mannered etc.

Badly trained/mannered through a human's eyes only. To dogs most are just being....well just dogs.

Darcy is ball mad, and I spend a lot of time in summer at the beach keeping her fit through swimming and water retreiving with a ball. The game is all that matters to her. To have a dog steal her ball and rack off with it, or jump all over her trying to get her to play, or shove their nose so hard under her tail that they've lifted her entire rear end off the ground really doesn't float her boat, and her attempts to avoid such dogs makes it obvious what she thinks of such intrusions on "her" game.

She's also a very submissive dog to others, and has had a few run-ins with a small dog at training. As a result she is not a fan of small dogs, particularly loud small dogs.

She loves the whippet who frequents the local showgrounds who has no recall whatsoever, but the lack of recall would be my opinion not hers

[Kelpie-i]

Jess I hear you and I totally understand what you're saying.

It's just a pity that it is the dogs who are branded rather than their owners in most cases.

[poodlefan]

I think that many dogs are less tolerant of dogs whose behaviour they consider lacks "manners".

I can think of a couple of dogs who provoke aggressive reactions almost everytime they meet a new dog. Rushing up at great speed and going nose to nose, hard shoulder charging, jumping on shoulders, humping and clobbering another dog with front paws are behaviours many dogs find offensive, regardless of how playful any human regards these things.

Some dogs may tolerate it. Some dogs may even enjoy such encounters. But quite a few won't and will have something to say.

Dog park regulars with bad mannered dogs are my worst nightmare because they usually regard such behaviour as acceptable forms of play and any dog that rebuffs it as "aggressive".

Edited February 15, 2009 by poodlefan

[corvus]

An interesting thing I've noticed at the dog park I frequent is that the dogs have different ways of greeting each other and interacting and will adjust their behaviour to suit each other. Usually. Penny gets a hello from some of the dogs she likes, but no one tries to play with her. Kivi gets slammed, barged, tripped and play-mauled, but he likes it and I've seen dogs do it to him that don't do it to other dogs. And I've seen him greet some dogs by roaring up to them and throwing his paws around their neck and other dogs he approaches gently and stops short to let them make the first move. He generally knows what he's doing precisely because we go to the dog park a lot and he has learnt that some dogs don't like things that other dogs do like. It's the ones that take advantage of his sweet nature and spend the time shouldering him to the ground every 5 seconds that I don't like much, but it's only happened to us a couple of times and the owners always come in and take their dog away. They only do it to Kivi, though. The dogs that won't put up with it just walk away and are left in peace.

We have a good dog park with nice dogs and owners, though.

[shoemonster]

Used to do the dog park thing, but now they are older I wish I hadnt. i got too caught up in humanising it, and thinking they should love being able to play with friends

I'm curious. What's wrong with letting dogs play in the dog park, except for the risk factor regarding unknown dogs? Is there anything negative about too much socialising?

If you take the risk out of it then there isnt really anything wrong with it, but you cant take the risk out, the risk is there and its very real

Even with dogs you know there is still a risk, and now to me that is not worth it

[poodlefan]

Corvus:

Kivi gets slammed, barged, tripped and play-mauled, but he likes it and I've seen dogs do it to him that don't do it to other dogs.

I hope you have him chiropracted regularly - dog's bodies can pay a price for all that rough play.

[Luke W]

I guess there's a risk involved with everything you do with your dogs and it's a matter of trying to weigh up the cost-benefit and mitigate risks as much as possible.

[poodlefan]

I guess there's a risk involved with everything you do with your dogs and it's a matter of trying to weigh up the cost-benefit and mitigate risks as much as possible.

I think the trick is to be conscious of the risks and to eliminate the ones you consider unacceptable.

[Monah]

I'm not really sure what is meant by dogparks, so please excuse my ignorance. If it is a fenced area named as a dog park, no I've never been to one, or even seen one.

My dogs go to the local off lead beach. They very rarely show any interest in other dogs there, except if other dogs rush up. My viz gets a bit frightened so I always keep her with me or call her if I suspect an over friendly dog is coming. The spin is so placid that I worry another dog will take advantage.

We have never had an incident, thank goodness, and 'know' all the dogs and people who go.

We also frequent an area around the corner that backs onto our airport. There are creeks and plenty of land etc. and also many sportsgrounds. I've only ever seen a couple of dogs here and mine stay with me, unless a friend is there with their dogs. Motorbikers and horse riders go too, my dogs adore the horses and will touch noses but never go behind(I allow a nose touch with permission then call them to me)

I don't take any risks and am constantly on the lookout for any danger, just as I would be when driving. My relfexes are in overdrive (so much for relaxing walkies!!)

I am very very worried about moving to Darwin in a couple of months as I do not 'know' the people, dogs and area. I guess we will have to start from scratch even though mine are excellent offlead. They will be on lead for ages while I size up the risks.